#BrothersVisitEurope

Since we've been in Europe for 2 years we've only had 1 visitor, Drew's mom Gwen back in March. We were thrilled to finally have a visitor. So when my brother said he wanted to come to Germany I was stoked! Then when my youngest brother said he was going to come and visit with my other brother, I was ecstatic! 2 visitors!

They were scheduled to arrive early Monday morning at 0850am from the Munich Airport. I packed the car up the night before an had everything ready so all I had to do was grab the cooler and Rylie and we could head out. Those who know me know that I am not an early riser. Mornings and I do NOT get along. So when my alarm went off Monday morning I had no idea why it was going off, and half contemplated staying in bed. I surprised myself when I had the car packed and ready to go in 15 minutes! 

According to my GPS it would only take me 2 hours to get to the Munich Airport. When we went to Ireland we flew out of the Munich Airport I knew it fairly well so knew I would have no problem getting there. For the most part I don't drive. So it was my first real experience driving on the Autobahn. It's just like any other Highway/Interstate. I've driven on enough road trips where I was confident in my driving skills. My GPS said I was set to arrive at 0900. Only I didn't arrive then. I got stuck in traffic. Construction, then one lane closures then construction again! It added on an extra 50 minutes to my travel time. Thankfully my brothers phone's worked and I was able to call them and let them know I was going to be late.

When I finally arrived at the airport, Rylie was so excited to see her Uncle's! 

From the airport, we drove another 2 hours to Berchesgaden area. Thankfully we didn't hit any traffic on the way down. Arrived at the hotel at 12pm. Check in wasn't until 3pm and they were not budging! I'm not even going to mention the hotel we stayed at because it sucked. I booked it through booking.com and I've never had a problem when requesting things. Since Rylie was coming with us I wanted a room on the ground floor, and because Drew's deployed I needed a room with WiFi. Apparently requesting it on booking.com wasn't enough because they don't check it, so when I said I wanted a room on the ground floor because of Rylie I was met with attitude because "I didn't inform them that I was traveling with a dog." Strike one. On the booking info, it said there would be enough room in the room for an extra person. There wasn't. And when asked about it, attitude again about my dog and how I needed a specific room. Strike 2.When plugging in our electronics to charge, the power went out in the room. Strike 3. Needless to say we only stayed one night instead of the intended 2.

So instead of checking in to the hotel. We headed off to Lake Koingsee. It was 95 degrees out, and that didn't even include the humidity. I'm sure it was well over 100 degrees. We walked around the Lake for a little bit, we all got some exercise after being in the car for 5 hours I could definitely use it! The plan was to check into the hotel, then grab some dinner, only that didn't work out that way, jet lag finally kicked in and my brothers knocked out for the rest of the night!

I had planned on staying 2 nights in Berchesgaden, but things don't alway work out the way that we want them too. So we packed up our things and headed off Hitlers old house! From there we drove into Salzburg, we parked the car and wandered into the city. It was over a 100 degrees in Salzburg, we walked as much as we could and decided that it wasn't worth it to keep going, especially since we had Rylie (I think I used her as an excuse, I was tired too)

Salzburg, Austria

Since we had headed back to my house, we had an extra day to spare, what a better way then going to Bayreuth to the mall, and giving them their first taste of real German Bratwurst!...and of course see what a German mall is really like. Rotmain Center, you never disappoint me! There were even awesome sales going on at H&M and they got some German made clothing!

On our non-traveling days, I took my brothers to Base to check out things, and to the German grocery stores like Edeka! My brothers LOVE Milka, I don't blame them. One even made a joke that he was going to get fat here!

 On our day trip days, one day we headed off to Flossenburg Concentration Camp. That was one of the things they both had said they wanted to see while in Germany. If you come to Germany, you HAVE to see a concentration camp.

Flossenburg Concentration Camp

At first only one of my brothers was supposed to come to Germany, so I booked a trip with Explore Europe Travel to Cologne. Not one of their better trips, but for the most part I'm glad we went!

@ Cologne Cathedral

They don't love my selfie stick

Another day, we headed off to see Castle Ruins! Waldeck Castle ruins are 3km away from my house. I wasn't sure if they were going to be interested in seeing castles so I gave them a choice between seeing a full castle or castle ruins. They chose castle ruins! I love it up at Waldeck, you can see for miles when you're up there.

It was great having helpers with Rylie!

Berlin, was the next big city I took my brothers too. We had a great time there. Rylie even had a nice time hanging out with us, minus the rain!

Brandenburg Gate

@ The Berlin Wall

Rylie LOVES Uncle Junior!

Check Point Charlie

Another day we stayed close, and headed down to Nuremberg to check out the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. Definitely something everyone should see.

Our last big trip we headed off to the Czech Republic, to the Sedlec Ossuary, Prague, and Pilsen! Although it was only a day trip, we did a lot! 

Sedlec Ossuary, thats REAL bones behind us

Astronomical Clock, Prague

In Pilsen we just missed the English tour, so instead we decided to get some food because I'm a foodie (or fat girl whatever you want to call it)! We did walk around the brewery area for a little bit, but to see the good stuff you actually have to go on the tour. They take you on a bus somewhere to see it. :(

Having a Pilsner in Pilsen! haha

Pilsen Brewery was super adorable!

Our food. I'm drooling remembering how amazing it was!

On my brother's last night here, I wanted them to go out in style. So we headed off to Schinderhaus in Weiden for Schnitzels as big as our heads! This time I got a small, I still wasn't able to finish it! It was great giving them a "German Last Meal" before heading back to the states.

It was a great trip. I'm glad they were both able to come over here to visit, and even though little brothers are a pain in the ass, I'm glad I got to be a good big sister and show them around Europe. Rylie's super glad her uncles came to visit. She can't wait to go back to the states and see them again!